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English
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Part 12 of OFMD Whumptober 2025
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OFMD Whumptober 2025
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Published:
2025-10-12
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640
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1/1
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26
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53
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209

Rescue Mission

Summary:

Stede was barely aware of what was happening through the fever, but he knew Ed was in trouble. Could hear the thumping and breaking and yelling. Blinked his eyes blearily as the door to the bedroom was presumably kicked in.

OFMD Whumptober Day 12: Sick while injured | Left for dead | Innkeepers |Whimpering

Notes:

A huge thank you to my beta reader for this whole whumptober series ourflagimplodes who has been an invaluable cheerleader and helped me through my imposter syndrome with lovely comments! Any mistakes left are my own.

You can find the songs I wrote these fills to on this playlist , the song numbers correspond to the fill I wrote as I listened to them.

The song for this fill is Suspirium by Thom Yorke

As with all of my whumptober fills for this year, please be mindful of the tags.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Stede was barely aware of what was happening through the fever, but he knew Ed was in trouble. Could hear the thumping and breaking and yelling. Blinked his eyes blearily as the door to the bedroom was presumably kicked in. He tried to call out, but his voice was raspy and the words wouldn't come out. He tried to brace himself against the cudgels that came at him, but his limbs were too tired and weak. He curled up in a ball as they wailed on him, the pain barely registering over the general pain of his fever-wracked body. After what felt like an aeon he heard one of the thugs say something about being dead in a couple of hours, and then it stopped. They left. He heard more yelling, more scuffling, then the thump of the door. Then silence. He felt his eyelids close as he passed out.

Stede wasn't sure what time it was when he regained consciousness, but it was still light, so he hoped it was the same day. He was vaguely aware of the silence past the thump of his heartbeat in his ears. His blood ran even colder when he thought about Ed. What had they done with Ed? He pulled himself up into a sitting position and waited for a moment for his head to stop spinning. His whole body hurt, both the sharp pain of his fever, and the dull, aching pain of the blooming bruises from the attack. He whimpered as he pushed himself up from the bed. His nightgown was blood stained and sweat stained and really needed to get thrown into the rag bin as soon as Stede was out of it. He shuffled forward and rested his hand against the wall to catch his breath. His eye caught on the walking stick Ed used when his knee was bad, leaning against the wall. His heart skipped a beat, and he took hold of it. Used it to steady himself as he walked through the Inn. Ed was gone. They had taken him. He'd suspected it, but knowing it was something different. Stede allowed himself a moment to panic before he set his mind to the task at hand. Rescue.

Stede went back to the bedroom and looked at the wardrobe. He weighed the chances of being able to get dressed by himself while dealing with the flu, then reached for a robe instead. He tied it tightly around his waist, grabbed his belt and scabbard, tied it over his robe, and eventually managed to get his sword in its sheath after a few shaky attempts. He took as deep a breath as he could, and left the Inn.

Stede was barely a couple of hundred feet up the road, breathing heavily and willing his leaden feet forward, when a figure crested the hill on the road ahead. Stede scrambled to reach for his sword, but the person was running so fast he didn't have a chance to do anything but weakly grip at the hilt before they reached him.

"Hey," a concerned voice said. Ed's voice! "What the fuck are you doing, Stede?"

Stede swallowed thickly. "Rescuing you."

Ed huffed out a laugh. "You fucking lunatic, they'd have killed you where you stood in this state. It's okay, though, I dealt with 'em. Had to get back and make sure you were okay."

Stede smiled as much as he could. "Well, couldn't let them get past me." He coughed and stumbled.

"Ope," Ed said, as he put an arm under Stede's and lifted him straighter. "Back to the Inn with you, and back into bed."

"Bit tired for that," Stede said.

Ed laughed. "Oh, you know what I mean. You're gonna be just fine."

Stede got into slow step with Ed. "Now you're home? I will be."

Notes:

Holy moly, can you believe this is my 200th OFMD work on here? Wild!

Come scream about gay pirates with me:

Bluesky: ramsaybaggins

Tumblr: ramsaybaggins

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